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NBA Capsules | Dec. 12

NBA Capsules | Dec. 12

Doc Rivers, former head coach of the Boston Celtics and current head coach of the Los Angeles Clippers, waves to cheering fans as he enters the TD Garden floor for his first time back. (Elise Amendola/The Associated Press)

BOSTON — Jamal Crawford hit a pair of 3-pointers 23 seconds apart to help the Clippers pull away in the last 3 minutes and former Celtics coach Doc Rivers won his first game back in Boston when Los Angeles beat the Celtics 96-88 Wednesday night.

Crawford came off the bench to score 21 points and Chris Paul had 22 points, nine assists and seven rebounds. Blake Griffin scored 18 points for the Clippers, who won for the seventh time in 10 games.

Jeff Green scored 29 points against his former coach, who was traded to Los Angeles last summer for a first-round draft pick. Jordan Crawford had 20 points and nine assists, and Brandon Bass had 17 points and 12 rebounds for the Celtics, who lost their second in a row.

Boston lost to the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday night, kicking off a reunion week of sorts by facing former Celtics Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce.

KNICKS 83, BULLS 78

NEW YORK — Carmelo Anthony had 30 points and 10 rebounds, and New York pulled out the victory over Chicago after blowing a 23-point lead.

Amare Stoudemire made the tiebreaking jumper with 2:35 left and finished with 14 points and nine rebounds for the Knicks, who ended a two-game losing streak but made it harder on themselves than necessary with some sloppy second-half offense.

Mike Dunleavy Jr. scored 20 points for the Bulls, who have lost three straight and five of six.

TIMBERWOLVES 106, 76ERS 99

MINNEAPOLIS — Kevin Love had 26 points, 15 rebounds and five assists, and Minnesota rallied from a 19-point deficit to beat slumping Philadelphia.

Ricky Rubio had 21 points, seven assists and five rebounds, Nikola Pekovic added 20 points and 10 rebounds, and Robbie Hummel hit a couple of big shots for the Wolves in the fourth quarter to key the comeback.

Spencer Hawes had 20 points and six rebounds for the Sixers, who led 39-20 after a tremendous first quarter and still held a 13-point advantage at halftime. But they turned the ball over 26 times and shot 14 free throws to Minnesota’s 29.

Reserve guard Jeremy Lamb added a career-high 18 points to help the Thunder to their fourth straight win and 12th in 13 games. Neither Westbrook nor Durant played in the fourth quarter, when the Thunder maintained a double-digit lead.